Bo Underwood
1,435 days.
When Georgia faces South Carolina on Saturday, it will have been 1,435 days since Georgia football last lost at home. It’s now the longest home winning streak in college football after Alabama’s 34-24 loss to Texas on Saturday. The Bulldogs have looked particularly infallible between the hedges since 2021.
Rewind the clock a few years — back to a time where the Bulldogs appeared mortal at home. All the way back to Oct. 12, 2019, when unranked South Carolina marched into Sanford Stadium and stunned No. 3 Georgia 20-17. But how?
Georgia entered that game as a 21.5 point favorite. The team was coming off of an emotional 23-17 win over Notre Dame at home and a 43-14 road thrashing of Tennessee. South Carolina was 2-3 and had lost to North Carolina in Week 1 and Missouri just two weeks prior to the matchup against Georgia.
When gametime arrived, Georgia scored first off of a Rodrigo Blankenship field goal on its opening drive. A few possessions later, South Carolina answered back with a 46-yard touchdown on a deep ball from quarterback Ryan Hilinski to receiver Bryan Edwards. The Gamecocks led 7-3 after the first quarter.
never had a chance. South Carolina defensive back Israel Mukuamu picked it off and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown. The Gamecocks led 17-10 at halftime.
The second half of this game was a mess for both teams. Georgia and South Carolina traded punts and turnovers, with Mukuamu hauling in his second interception of the game.
bounced off the hands of receiver Tyler Simmons and into the waiting arms of none other than Mukuamu — Fromm somehow had thrown three picks to the same player. If South Carolina scored any points on its next possession, the game was over. However, Parker White’s 33-yard field goal attempt was just a little to the right, and Georgia still had life — double overtime.
hooked it. Georgia had lost at home for the first time since 2016.
The 2019 Georgia team was a mixed bag. Though it boasted an all-world defense, the offense spent the entire season trying to get itself together. Fromm and first-year offensive coordinator James Coley never clicked, and the Bulldogs finished just 49th in the country in total offense.
Georgia saw its first real sign of trouble in the second quarter. Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm faced pressure, backpedaled and threw a pass off his back foot intended for receiver George Pickens. The ball
The Bulldogs got another big stop and found themselves at their own 4-yard line still down 17-10 with six minutes remaining in the game. Fromm found receiver Demetris Robertson in the back of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown that tied the game with under two minutes left. After South Carolina couldn’t put points on the board and a last-second Hail Mary attempt was unsuccessful, it was overtime in Sanford.
Georgia got the ball to start overtime, but didn’t have it for long. On the second play of the extra period, Fromm’s pass
South Carolina, now running with backup quarterback Dakereon Joyner after Hilinski got injured in the third quarter, converted a gutsy fourth-and-1 before stalling out at the Georgia 6-yard line. White’s 24yard chip-shot was good this time around. The Bulldogs could win with a touchdown and avoid the upset or go into triple overtime with a field goal.
They did neither. Swift was stuffed on first down, and after two incompletions, Georgia was forced to attempt a 42-yard field goal on 4th and 10.
Blankenship
Georgia rang off a string of solid but not-quite dominant wins to finish 11-1 and secure an SEC Championship berth. The Bulldogs then ran into one of the greatest college football teams of all time, the 2019 LSU squad, which proceeded to give them a 37-10 shellacking.
Georgia ended on a high note with a Sugar Bowl win against Baylor, and the following offseason, parted ways with Coley and hired Todd Monken as the new offensive coordinator.
Better times were ahead.
Tori Newman
Georgia football will kick off its 2023 SEC conference campaign with Week 3’s game against South Carolina in Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
One of the lesser-known SEC rivalries, the annual matchup returns for its 31st and final consecutive year, as the two teams will not face each other in 2024 — a result of SEC expansion.
South Carolina is coming to Athens with the sting of a 31-17 opening loss to rival North Carolina, who was ranked No. 21 at the time. The Gamecocks and their fans, who head coach Kirby Smart praised this time last year, are eager to get their season back on track after the strong finish they had to 2022.
“They have a tremendous following in their fanbase,” Smart said. “They fit the SEC culture in terms of their fanbase and their commitment to a facility and winning environment. They have all of that. It’s not a huge state, so they know they have to go outside of the state to win battles … Shane [Beamer] has done a good job there, and they will probably continue to do a good job because they recruit well.”
The Gamecock’s 2022 season ended with an unexpected surge of momentum. Quarterback Spencer Rattler, who transferred from Oklahoma, played arguably the best game of his career in South Carolina’s final home game against No. 5 Tennessee. The Gamecocks upset the Volunteers with a 63-38 blowout victory in Columbia, South Carolina. The Gamecocks rejoiced with an army of fans who stormed the field as the final seconds of the game wound down.
Riding out the high of its defining victory, South Carolina edged past Clemson 31-30 in its first win over the bitter rival since 2013. But in the highest scoring game in TaxSlayer Gator Bowl history, South Carolina’s momentum wasn’t enough to overpower Notre Dame in a 45-38 loss.
Georgia holds control of the series with a 54-19 overall record and is currently riding a three-game win streak. In last season’s matchup in Columbia, the Bulldogs blew past the Gamecocks with a 48-7 win, which was the largest margin of victory in the 129-year history between Georgia and South Carolina’s programs.
While Rattler is back at the helm of the Gamecock offense, two important offensive pieces from last season are not. Running back Marshawn Lloyd and tight end Jaheim Bell, who combined for 16 touchdowns and sat atop the South Carolina rushing stats last season, both transferred. Lloyd transferred to the University of Southern California, while Bell went to Florida State. Bell was quick to make an
impact with the Seminoles, as he scored in their opening 45-24 upset over LSU.
South Carolina’s backfield had an evident rough start without them, finishing with a total of -2 rushing yards to North Carolina’s 168.
Senior Dakereon Joyner seems likely to fill the hole left by Bell and Llyod’s departure. Joyner rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns in his first two games of the season. The Charleston, South Carolina, native is entering his sixth year with the Gamecocks.
Throughout his career, Joyner has seen action at several different positions. In 2022, he spent time as a wide receiver, quarterback and on special teams. In 2021, he started at quarterback against North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and won most valuable player. Joyner played quarterback against Georgia when South Carolina last beat the Bulldogs in 2019.
Outside of Rattler, South Carolina’s biggest returner is wide receiver Antwane Wells Jr. In 2022, Wells was deemed second team All-SEC by the Associated Press and led the Gamecocks with 928 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
As a senior, Wells brings a much-needed veteran presence to an offense adjusting to losing some of its key performers.
Defensively, the Gamecocks are anchored by linebacker Sherrod Greene and defensive back Nick Emmanwori, who missed most of Week 1 and all of Week 2 with a hamstring injury. Emmanwori and Greene led the team in total tackles in 2022, with 85 and 77, respectively. Defensive end Jordan Burch was another big loss for South Carolina, as he transferred to Oregon to play under former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning.
The Bulldogs enter the matchup as heavy favorites, but are poised to face their first potential challenge of the season. Rattler will go up against Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, who finds himself in the same position Rattler had last season of headlining an SEC program for the first time. Before Georgia’s matchup against South Carolina in 2022, Smart said Rattler would be a focus of the defense’s gameplan.
“[Rattler has] an elite ability to throw the deep ball,” Smart said. “He can throw the ball over 70 yards, stretch the field. And he’s an athlete. He’s a guy that can move around. You got to be disciplined. You’re going to have probably five to six snaps a game where you’ve got to use scramble rules.”
Additionally, both teams feature new offensive coordinators. For South Carolina, head coach Shane Beamer named Dowell Loggains as his offensive coordinator in December 2022. Loggains was formerly a tight ends coach with the Uni-
versity of Arkansas for two years. Loggains has previous experience as an offensive coordinator in the NFL, working for the Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.
Not technically a new face, Mike Bobo will feature in his third game as the offensive coordinator for the back-toback national champions after his promotion in February. Bobo previously served as a quality control analyst and has been a coach for the program for 14 years in addition to being a former Bulldog quarterback.
Georgia, after a relatively unchallenging start to its 2023 season, is presented with an opportunity to make an opening statement for their conference campaign and stake its claim as the No. 1 team in college football.
X Georgia has the longest home winning streak in college football, with a running streak of 19 games. The Bulldogs’ last home defeat came against the Gamecocks in 2019 with a 20-17 double-overtime loss.
X In Georgia’s last meeting with South Carolina, quarterback Carson Beck took over for former quarterback Stetson Bennett in the third quarter. Beck went five for six for 55 yards and a touchdown. His pass to Oscar Delp marked both Delp’s first career reception and touchdown.
X The Gamecock offense’s weak point lies within its lack of depth in the running back room. In 2022, the Gamecocks ranked 12th in the SEC in rushing, recording 1,480 yards and 27 touchdowns. Their top two backs, Marshawn Lloyd and Jaheim Bell, have since transferred.
X South Carolina’s strongest weapon offensively is quarterback Spencer Rattler. The Oklahoma transfer ranked fifth in the SEC in passing yards in his first season in the SEC and threw for 18 touchdowns. He was named to the Manning Award watchlist in August and the Maxwell Award watchlist in July.
X Since he was hired in December 2020, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer is 0-2 in conference play openers. The Gamecocks lost to Georgia 40-13 in 2021 and 44-30 to Arkansas in 2022.
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John JamesEvery year, there comes a time when college football teams get put to the test. The test is a defining moment. It tells the whole world — fans, opponents, media pundits and even the members of a team’s own locker room — what the team is made of. Some teams step up to the challenge and overcome their obstacles, while others crumble under the pressure and fade into obscurity.
Last season, Georgia’s test arrived in October. Late at night, on the road in a hostile, raucous crowd of Missouri supporters, the Bulldogs clawed their way back from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to seize victory from the jaws of defeat.
Georgia’s first test of the 2023 campaign could arrive as soon as this weekend, when South Carolina visits Sanford Stadium. The visitors will be Georgia’s first conference opponents of the season, and will have the tall task of taking down a team that outscored its first two opponents by a 93-10 margin.
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s season started on the worst possible note, losing a nationally-televised matchup against
North Carolina in the first week of the year.
Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler was sacked nine times during the game, a major reason that South Carolina ended the night with negative rushing yards.
er impressive victories over Clemson and Tennessee toward the end of last season, knocking both teams out of playoff contention. A loss on Saturday might not be quite that detrimental to Georgia’s postseason hopes, but it would still put the defending national champions in a very difficult position.
To avoid said loss, the Bulldogs will have to contain Rattler, who will be returning for his second year as the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback. The Bulldogs haven’t faced a quarterback with his combination of arm strength and mobility this season, but last year they did well at keeping him in check. Rattler only threw for 118 yards in the game, adding a pair of interceptions to cap off his lackluster performance.
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The Bulldogs’ defensive line has fielded questions about its depth and ‘game-wrecking’ ability. If the first two weeks were any indication, that unit will have plenty of opportunities to address those questions against South Carolina.
Despite their early-season deficiencies, the Gamecocks could still prove to be a dangerous opponent. They put togeth -
Still, Georgia can’t afford to make costly mistakes. The South Carolina defense forced three turnovers in its first two games of the season, one less than the Georgia defense. The Gamecocks might not be the same team that won four straight bowl games from 2011-2014, but they’re still an SEC rival that’s coming to Athens with just one goal — to hand the Bulldogs their first loss in Sanford since 2019.
Any starter could be impactful in Georgia’s first SEC matchup of the season, but cornerback Daylen Everette is near the top of that list. Everette, alongside fellow starter Kamari Lassiter, has the responsibility of shutting down a potentially dynamic passing game. The Gamecocks possess two threatening receivers in Antwane Wells Jr. and Nyck Harbor. While Lassiter’s experience should allow him to find success, Everette will have to play beyond his sophomore status to keep South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer’s offense in check.
South Carolina running back Dakereon Joyner
Dakereon Joyner holds a special distinction from the other South Carolina players. He’s one of the few players still on the team from the last time the Gamecocks beat the Bulldogs — on Oct. 12, 2019 in Sanford Stadium. He led South Carolina’s winning drive in the second overtime after entering the game at quarterback in the third quarter. Now South Carolina’s starting running back and the team’s leader in rushing touchdowns, Joyner has the potential to beat Georgia one last time before he officially runs out of eligibility.
South Carolina’s total rushing yards in the Gamecocks’ season opener against North Carolina #6 #5
Georgia defensive lineman Mykel Williams
Teams have to account for Mykel Williams on every single snap. The former 2022 five-star prospect had four-and-a-half sacks last year as a freshman and already has one this year. Williams consistently finds a way to generate pressure. South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler looked, well, rattled when South Carolina faced North Carolina in Week 1 after being sacked nine times. Time will tell if Georgia can reach that number, and if it can, it will likely be because Williams is leading the way.
South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler
Let’s face it, South Carolina’s offense is not going anywhere if quarterback Spencer Rattler can’t get going himself. Rattler — who again, was sacked nine times by the Tar Heels — didn’t have a single touchdown pass in that game. He did complete 30 of 39 passes for 353 yards, but with no touchdowns on the board, that performance feels empty. He turned it around against Furman with a four-touchdown performance in Week 2, but Rattler will need to find success through the air for South Carolina to get anything going against the Bulldogs.
Georgia wide receiver Mekhi Mews
5-foot-8 walk-on receiver Mekhi Mews has been nothing short of explosive early in the season. Georgia fans saw a glimpse of what Mews could be when he ran a kickoff back for a touchdown on G-Day, and a 69-yard punt return touchdown against Ball State, but Mews has gotten it done at wideout too. He took a screen pass for a 54-yard touchdown against UT Martin. Even if Ladd McConkey is able to return and see the field, Mews can be tremendously effective for the Georgia offense’s continued success.
South Carolina defensive back O’Donnell Fortune
Whether it was first-round pick Jaycee Horn or recent draft picks Cam Smith and Darius Rush, South Carolina has consistently produced strong defensive backs and O’Donnell Fortune could be the next of that line. The redshirt junior will be challenged to cover Georgia’s cavalcade of receiving threats. The Gamecocks will rely on Fortune and his peers in the secondary heavily to slow down Carson Beck and the rest of Georgia’s offensive fireworks at wide receiver.
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This newspaper can be recycled.
By Owen WardenSamuel Higgs
It wasn’t supposed to be this complicated for Tykee Smith.
Once a first team
All-American safety and one of the highest-profile transfers in the country, Smith arrived at Georgia before the 2021 season with massive expectations.
Instead, he became an afterthought, plagued by injuries. Now, as a fifth-year senior in 2023, he has one more chance to make his mark as a Georgia Bulldog and live up to the hype that Georgia fans once dreamt of.
Smith has put together an impressive start to the season that saw him rack up six total tackles against UT Martin and an interception against Ball State. The fifth-year defensive back and Georgia’s new starter at STAR is looking to get back to the level he was at years ago at West Virginia.
Smith has played the STAR position since joining Georgia in 2021. The STAR position is a part of Georgia’s nickel defense, where either a linebacker or defensive lineman is removed for an additional member of the secondary.
This additional position — sometimes re -
ferred to as nickel cornerback — gives the defense a versatile player who takes responsibility not just as a defensive back but a weak side linebacker as well.
Smith’s career began at Imhotep Institute Charter High School in Philadelphia, where he was a three-star prospect, according to 247Sports. In his senior year, he posted 26 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, an interception and a fumble recovery. He also led the team in rushing with 502 yards and nine touchdowns.
After high school, Smith committed to West Virginia and made an immediate impact. As a freshman, he appeared in all 12 games and started in eight at the safety position. He finished as the fifth-leading tackler with 53 total tackles, two interceptions, a sack and a forced fumble.
Smith topped his stellar freshman season as a sophomore. He finished as the fourth-leading tackler on the team with 61 and tied for first in interceptions with two. He wrapped up the season by earning a first-team All-Big 12 nomination and being named a Jim Thorpe award finalist, given to the best defensive back in college football.
After the season, Smith made the surprising decision to enter his name in the
X Smith went to 3-star recruit Imhotep Institute Charter High School in Philadelphia. According to 247Sports, he was a three-star prospect coming out of high school.
X Smith posted 26 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, an interception and a fumble recovery in his senior season of high school. He also led the team in rushing with 502 yards and nine touchdowns.
X Smith’s first collegiate stop was at the University of West Virginia. In his freshman season, the Football Writers Association of America named him a Freshman All-American.
X Smith followed that up by recording 61 tackles and two interceptions in his sophomore year. He earned a spot on the All-Big 12 first team for his performance.
X Smith recorded six tackles in Georgia’s season opener against UT Martin. Against Ball State, he added an interception onto his season statline.
transfer portal. He later committed to Georgia to follow his position coach at West Virginia, Jahmile Addae, who had been hired by Georgia in the offseason. Addae has since left to join Miami’s coaching staff.
“I came here [to Georgia] because I wanted to better myself and better my game and I think this is the best place to push me to where I wanted to go and bring the best out of me,” Smith said in a media availability before the season. “I came here to try to be the best version of myself.”
Smith was set to be among another standout defender on a team loaded with NFL talent, though injuries soon became an issue over the following seasons. He missed nearly all of 2021 and only made four starts in 2022. Although health has been an issue
for the former All-American, he has pressed onward as he prepares for possibly his final season of college football.
“I’m definitely trying to just leave that in the past,” Smith said. “When I was going through those injuries, the biggest thing for me was just getting over the mental thing, trying to get my confidence back, and then basically just getting to trust my knee again.”
Smith’s performance in Week 1 reminded fans of his reputation as a dominant and feared defender in the Big 12. In Week 2, he also displayed his ability to force turnovers and change the momentum of a game. Only time will tell as to whether or not he will make a full comeback as the player many expected him to be at Georgia.
John James
Kirby Smart wants to wreak havoc.
Georgia’s head coach wants his defense to cause problems, create turnovers and sow chaos for its opponent. Smart himself has said that he wants to put the other team out of rhythm, in the hopes that his Bulldogs will be able to take advantage of the confusion.
There’s just one problem — havoc often comes down to the defensive line’s ability to pressure a quarterback. When the quarterback drops back to pass, can the defense force him into making a bad play?
Past Georgia teams had players like Travon Walker, Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter along the line, consistently making life difficult for opposing offenses. Smart said he isn’t sure that this year’s team has a lineman capable of filling that void.
“You need someone that can anchor and handle double-teams and strike blocks,” Smart said. “We have guys that can be disruptive, but we just don’t know if they can consistently do it and stop the run as well without guessing sometimes. Our defensive linemen are perfectly capable, there’s just not that kind of guy.”
The line has a number of players who have been valuable additions to Georgia’s national championship teams, adding depth and allowing Smart to rotate his linemen in and out of the game when one of
them needs a breather. Now, those reserve pieces — seniors like Nazir Stackhouse, Zion Logue and Tramel Walthour — have risen to the top of the rotation.
Stackhouse led the way for that cohort last year, appearing in all 15 games and recording 33 tackles in the process. Stackhouse himself generated a lot of hype from the media, as he earned preseason All-SEC first-team honors. His numbers could improve as he and his fellow seniors receive more playing time.
The seniors aren’t the only members of the defensive line who could make an impact this season. There are a number of talented young players on the team who could thrive if given the opportunity, with sophomore Mykel Williams at the head of that bunch.
Williams recorded Georgia’s only sack so far this season against UT Martin, but others like Jordan Hall, Christen Miller and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins have all seen the field at times through the early parts of the year.
Despite all that potential along the defensive line, Smart has been critical of the
unit at times in both spring and fall camp.
Warren Brinson, another senior on the line, pushed back against his coach’s comments. Brinson said that the depth of talent on the defensive line — from the seniors down to the freshmen — was one reason to be optimistic about that group.
“You say, ‘Not having any game-wreckers.’ I feel like I can wreck the game,” Brinson said. “We’re going to see as the
season goes on. We don’t have any of the ‘big names’ but by the end of the season, we could all be big names. It’s really just us working hard, having a good season, you’re going to see people wreck games.”
Brinson and his teammates will get put to the test this year. A dominant defensive line can change the course of a game, and Georgia fans have gotten to watch their fair share of talented defensive linemen come through Athens over the past few years.
If this year’s defensive line can harness the potential of its veteran talent and its newcoming prospects alike — whether the line has any ‘game-wreckers’ or not — it could be the stabilizing force that propels Georgia to a third-consecutive national championship.
“As you get into third down [against] more sophisticated teams, they are going to drop back and pass on you and you’ve got to affect the quarterback,” Smart said. “It’s one of the No. 1 things that you have to do on defense. You have to have people who can rush the passer, especially when you get to the upper-echelon and you start playing your SEC opponents.”
We don’t have any of the big names but by the end of the season, we could all be big names.WARREN BRINSON | GEORGIA SENIOR DEFENSIVE
LINEMANGeorgia defensive lineman Warren Brinson (97) points to the air during the second half of a NCAA college football game between UT Martin and Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. LANDEN TODD/STAFF The number of Georgia defensive linemen selected in the past two NFL draft cycles.
